The concept of Eataly is the best Italian producers and products, as well as the best local products (they are different in each region) — under one roof. The idea of the founder of the chain is to create a place where you can eat, shop and learn, learn new things — and it seems that FICO is the place where this idea has been most vividly embodied. The Eataly project, the largest in terms of area, consists of stores, restaurants, and mini-factories with transparent glasses through which you can see with your own eyes how parmesan, prosciutto, gelato, or panettone is made.
I’ll tell you how to plan a trip to FICO, what to do and what you should definitely bring, besides emotions.
What to do at FICO
On 10 hectares of the exhibition center there are about 200 companies from all regions of Italy. Each of them holds a leading position in its field of food production. There are 100 kinds of cheese, sausage, pasta, wine, many restaurants, cafes and several small food stands. What is not a real gastronomic paradise for gourmets?
One of FICO’s main objectives is educational. In one place, every visitor can learn about the culture, traditions, and craftsmanship that make Italian cuisine the most popular in the world. Seeing how butter, cheese, sweets, beer, meat and fish delicacies are made is fascinating for children and adults alike. Small crowds of spectators always gather around the producers who produce their goods right here, separated from the public only by transparent glass. These products can be tasted and bought on the spot.
About 30 events, 50 workshops and cooking classes are held daily in special classrooms and training facilities at the fair. FICO guests are taught gardening, beekeeping and the art of food photography. Walking around the park is free of charge, but you have to pay to participate in seminars, workshops and food.
There are sports and children’s areas, a modular congress center, a theater and a cinema. It is possible to book a guide in different languages and learn everything from a professional point of view.
What the FICO suite consists of
The Fico Eataly World Agri-Fair is conceived first and foremost as a grand museum of Italian cuisine. It includes farms, fields, mini-factories, a drinks and condiments exhibition, restaurants and stores — all the variety of traditional Italian cuisine from different regions of the country.
Nowhere else in the world is there such an abundance of Italian traditional delicacies as at the Rural Italian Factory.
Fields and farms
The theme park features wide fields of orchards, pastures and demonstration farmland with plantations of eggplant, olives, almonds, hazelnuts, melons and even truffles — about 30 different crops in all.
The livestock farms contain 200 cattle of different Italian breeds: nine breeds of cattle, five types of pigs, five types of goats and five types of sheep, rabbits, geese, and pheasants.
Stores and trading floors
The agro-park has more than just food stores. For visitors there is a bookstore, a boutique of eco-friendly cosmetics, a store for selling bicycle parts, a home comfort and Italian tableware store, a trading area with glass industry and much more.
The rest of the shopping area is home to the Italian farmers' market, which covers about 9000 m2. All goods can be sampled — just ask the vendor to cut off a small piece. Purchases can be vacuum packed — it is convenient for mailing, which is located here in the park.
Mini-factories
How cheese or ice cream is made, how the most famous Italian cake — panettone — is baked, how beer is brewed, how it is made…. you can not only buy almost any Italian products at FICO, but also see them in the process of production, and some of them you can even try to make with your own hands at master classes.
Restaurants
The fairgrounds are home to several famous star restaurants, bistros, street stalls, trattorias, wine shops and even establishments dedicated to Italian beer.
Here they cook with fresh, simple and light ingredients delivered from 40 local manufacturing plants. They serve pasta, pizza, polenta, fish, meat, vegetables, sweets, wine or fruit cocktails and more.
Beverages and condiments
An exhibition of the best drinks and condiments from all the Italian lands are gathered in one section: pub Baladin, wine cellar Terre Cevico, olive oil Olio Roi and more.
The large wine department is divided by region to make it easy for the novice to navigate.
Cheese factory
At the cheese factory, the visitor can see with his own eyes all the processes of cheese product production, starting from manual forming, turning and finishing with the creation of the desired shapes.
It will tell you that the unique flavor of Grana Padano depends on Italian raw materials: only raw milk from Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto, Trentino-Alto Adige and some areas of Emilia-Romagna, and a recipe written centuries ago by Benedictine monks.
If you prefer mozzarella or parmesan, you can learn how this cheese is made and see for yourself from the producers. In the park you can also milk the cows yourself and help a specialist make mozzarella from the milk.
Virtual Reality
In the back of the gastronomic fair there are six interactive pavilions, each dedicated to a specific theme — pets, agri-culture, the sea and more. The ticket price to visit the six pavilions is €10. Inside, there are multimedia games, quests, movies, and oases of peace where you can take a break from walking through the agri-gastronomic park.
How to get to FICO Eataly World
Entrance to the FICO agro-gastronomic park is free. The fair is not in Bologna itself, but on the outskirts of the city, but you can get there by public transportation.
By bus from the center
- From the center of Bologna there is a shuttle «TPER FICO SHUTTLE» which leaves from the central railway station and makes several stops: Piazza XX Settembre (Autostazione), Indipendenza, Rizzoli, Piazza Minghetti, Piazza Malpighi, Marconi and Viale Pietramellara (Stazione Centrale ferroviaria). The fare is 7 €.
- The municipal bus from the central station is the cheaper option: a ticket costs €1.3. Routes 35 and 20 stop closest to FICO, and it will take 5—7 minutes to walk from the bus stop to the fair.
On a bicycle
The gastronomic fair can also be reached by bicycle on a new bicycle path connecting the existing paths in the Pilastro area with FICO. The path goes near Via Martinetti, Via Argugucci and Via Fanin. Bologna has a well-developed infrastructure for cyclists, you can also use the city bike.
At the entrance to the gastronomic paradise, you can rent a tricycle with a cart and a cooler and freely roam around FICO World Eataly.
What to bring back from FICO?
In a nutshell, anything goes. There is a post office of the Italian Post Office at the fair, so even if you can’t stay, all your purchases will be delivered to your hotel or home country by post, no matter how much they weigh. Don’t forget only about customs limits on purchases — 200 € when sending by post to Russia.
In addition to the usual sausages, cheeses, wine and butter, grab a bouquet of brightly colored dragees as a souvenir. These are not ordinary lollipops, but confetti di Sulmona — dragees made of almonds covered with a thin and fragile sugar coating, a prototype of paper confetti. According to Italian tradition, these confetti are sprinkled on newlyweds at weddings and used as bonbonnières at festivals. The core of each dragee is a special Sicilian variety of almond, which thanks to its shape allows the glaze to flow around it in a thin and even layer. The color of the candies and their quantity are very symbolic: it is customary to give certain colors, shapes and quantities for wedding anniversaries, christenings, birthdays. Ask the salesperson in the Sulmona candy department which variation will suit your occasion.
Where to stay overnight
It is worth spending at least half a day at FICO, and if you are traveling with children or planning to take part in a master class, a whole day. For those who come to FICO from other cities, I recommend choosing a hotel in the center of Bologna to spend the morning and evening in its streets and under the famous galleries and passageways, and come to the gastronomic oasis in the afternoon. The center is conveniently accessible by public transport from the Central Station.
Bologna is not a very expensive city, there are plenty of good options within 100 €.
- B&B Galliera Residence — nice, freshly renovated rooms with breakfast, very close to the station and public transportation. A room for two people with breakfast is about 100 €.
- Hotels of 3* level close to the station start from 70 €(Atlantis), 4* level — from 90 €(Zanhotel) for a basic level of comfort with breakfast.
- In the very center similar hotels cost from 100 € for 3*(University) and from 135 € for 4*(Metropolitan).
- The city’s only 5* Grand Hotel Majestic gia' Baglioni is located in the very center of the city and costs from 360 €. This oldest hotel in the city is considered the most prestigious accommodation and is a bit of a museum: it was built in the XVIII century on an ancient Roman road, part of which can now be seen inside the hotel. The hotel houses one of the most prestigious restaurants in Bologna, I Caracci.
Those traveling directly to FICO or to the exhibition district of Bologna, where the fair is located, can stay within walking distance. There are few hotels and only two good ones, both of which are literally opposite FICO:
- Hotel Cosmopolitan Bologna 4* — a room for two with breakfast will cost about 80 €. The hotel is not very new, but the rooms are good.
- Holiday Inn Bologna — Fiera 4* — room with breakfast costs from 110 €.
